Hamja Ahsan - The promise of Aspergistan will appeal to the bullied, the socially awkward, the introverted, the marginalised and the medicalised, and to all self-identifying Shy and autistic spectrum people. It imagines a world in which we value and give apposite space to ‘alternative,’ quiet and nonconformist ways of being

Hamja Ahsan, Shy Radicals: The anti-systemic politics of the introvert militant, Book Works, 2017.
http://shyradicals.tumblr.com/


This new paperback edition is now available.
The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear – Lao Tzu
Drawing together communiqués, covert interviews, oral and underground history of introvert struggles (Introfada), here for the first time is a detailed documentation of the political demands of shy people.
Radicalised against the imperial domination of globalised PR projectionism, extrovert poise and loudness, the Shy Radicals and their guerrilla wing the Shy Underground are a vanguard movement intent on trans-rupting consensus extrovert-supremacist politics and assertiveness culture of the twenty first century. The movement aims to establish an independent homeland – Aspergistan, a utopian state for introverted people, run according to Shyria Law and underpinned by Pan-Shyist ideology, protecting the rights of the oppressed quiet and shy people.
Shy Radicals are the Black Panther Party of the introvert class, and this anti-systemic manifesto is a quiet and thoughtful polemic, a satire that uses anti-colonial theory to build a critique of dominant culture and the rising tide of Islamophobia.

‘ a beautiful startling book. Subversively funny and very, very smart.’ – A. L. Kennedy


‘A classic in experimental literature.’ – Deborah Pearson


‘Shy Radicals does what the best writing always does: it makes you see the world afresh. And it is funny.’ – Arun Kundnani


‘a work of speculative activism that might actually change they way you think, also way more imaginative and actionable that any of that so-called theory that you read. Sick of extroverts controlling the agenda? Educate yourself about extrovert supremacy.’ – Sam Riviere (Books of the Year 2018 in the White Review)


‘Shy Radicals is a must-read, not only for those who can relate to its message, but, to anyone interested in politics and systems of power.’ – Norwich Review of Books


‘Check out this incredibly well-written book addressing and solving problems introverts face in today’s extrovert-centric politics by the unstoppable force also responsible for DIY Cultures’ – Saffiyah Khan


‘a deeply-felt work of imagination (as Ahsan notes in the very first sentence: ‘this book is written on the back of a lifetime of resentment’), which both expresses a genuine anguish and develops a rich symbolic framework within which that anguish can be borne… Shy Radicals is attuned to the voice of the invisible self, and challenges the conventions of extrovert self-advertisement precisely in order that this self might be recognised and heard. I read it with a feeling of recognition, of surprised identification – with resentment, and also a kind of furious joy.’ – Dominic Fox



‘Ahsan’s work is a sublime work of cultural criticism… Every chapter, every page, every sentence resonated with me.’ – Partly Robot autism blog.

‘Best book in an age! Can I buy my one way ticket to Aspergistan?’ – Rowena Harris, artist


Part manifesto, part history of the shy revolution, part hymn to introversion: Shy Radicals is a beautiful exploration of exploitation, nationalism and power-dynamics as seen from the perspective of the revolutionary introvert. It’s a poem and a manual that helps you take apart the cult of personality and endless expression and their part in enforcing evils of capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy. Exploring the Shy People’s Republic of Aspergistan, the book looks at how neurotypical-domination has led both to the oppression of shy people, and to the creation of an unnecessarily brutal world: reminding us that ‘the extrovert state is a terrorist state.’ Ahsan’s work is genuinely radical, and this book challenges traditional conceptions of art and politics by putting militant quietness at its centre. It’s as deadly serious as it is fun. Buy two copies and give one to a shy comrade or extroverted enemy.
The flag of Aspergistan consists of a black flag punctuated thusly ‘…’ - Henry Bell
https://glasgowreviewofbooks.com/2017/12/31/reads-of-the-year-henry-bell/


This year, separatist claims have resonated globally across a range of contexts. From the brutal ongoing oppression of the Kurds longing for Kurdistan, to Catalonia, subsumed (increasingly violently) within the Spanish state, to the continuing advocacy for Tamil Eelam in the wake of genocidal violence by the Sri Lankan state; separatism is being considered and theorised anew.
These claims are often made on the basis of territory as spaces for self-determination of a ‘people’ bound by culture, history, ethnicity, and/or ‘ties of mutual affection or sentiment.’ They also arise from the unbearable situations in which the self-defining ‘people’ find themselves.
Hamja Ahsan’s book, Shy Radicals: the anti-systemic politics of the militant introvert, draws our attention to a largely unacknowledged, yet ubiquitous oppressed people, whose voices are drowned out by their oppressors and face marginalisation and discrimination across states, class, race, gender and sexuality.
Cruelly, this systematic silencing is abetted by the people’s own preference for solitude and quiet, and fear of public speaking. Ahsan’s book calls for the acknowledgement of the situation of Shy people in an extrovert-supremacist world. It is a perceptive and entertaining analysis of late capitalism’s aggressive invasion of our senses, time and privacy.
The separate state of Aspergistan, the Shy Radicals political project, is imagined as a safe haven for Shy people, introverts and those on the autistic spectrum. It is designed for those who seek a quiet, unharassed existence, free of intrusive advertising, neon and strobe lighting, and compulsory social events. Aspergistan’s Constitution is set out in detail in the first pages of the book, establishing its political and social ideals in articles that are appealing, sensible and very amusing.
Hamja Ahsan is well versed in the language of struggle — he is an activist, writer, curator and artist. He was shortlisted for the Liberty Human Rights awards for the Free Talha Ahsan campaign. His vision of Aspergistan provides a gentle and revealing analysis of structural violence. It is a political project arising from personal experiences (the first line in the acknowledgments is: “This book is written on the back of a lifetime of resentment”). It is also intensely relatable. The promise of Aspergistan will appeal to the bullied, the socially awkward, the introverted, the marginalised and the medicalised, and to all self-identifying Shy and autistic spectrum people. It imagines a world in which we value and give apposite space to ‘alternative,’ quiet and nonconformist ways of being.
In our world of celebrity culture and reactionary politics, where the loudest and often the most obnoxious voices shape public debate and hold political office, this book describes a fictional but compelling project of radical societal transformation.
In a funny and insightful way, Ahsan highlights how power is communicated and attained in social situations and in political performances. The ‘new lexicon of democracy,’ beautifully and simply drawn by the artist and zine-maker Rose Nordin, visualises Aspergistan’s recognised and approved political communication through body language. These gestures include slouching, curling up on the floor, deep sighing, and standing by a wall.
Ahsan asks us to imagine a world in which political campaign leaflets are unobtrusively scattered on park benches for the population to pick up, if they feel like it. Compare that to the glaring, professionally oratorial and expensive campaigns of our contemporary politics. Imagine a world in which one is encouraged to contemplatively read manifestos (again, if one feels like it) rather than consume catchy and reductive soundbites.
The world encapsulated in Aspergistan is one where thoughtfulness and reflection, solitude and listening, are prized over brashness, over-confidence and self-promotion. It is a state free of coercion, where people are free to behave as they feel comfortable, without being labelled as ‘weirdos,’ ‘loners’ or ‘freaks. (These US teen movie categories are banned in Aspergistan.)
The neologisms that Ahsan introduces throughout the book are brilliantly funny: the militant underground movement is called the Introfada, the state will be subject to Shyria law, and House Introverts are deemed as every bit as dangerous as the explicitly extrovert Trendy Club.
The entire book is written through with a biting but hilarious critique of liberalism and conformity. The heroes and cultural representatives of the Shy Radicals movement include Rosa Parks, Wednesday Addams, Splinter (the sensei of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles), Ali La Pointe (the Algerian guerrilla protagonist of the Battle of Algiers), and Lisa Simpson. Through (imaginary) interviews with political prisoners of the Shy Radical movement and individuals who contributed to the oral history project of the (imaginary) Introvert Rights Association, Ahsan overturns contemporary social and politic realities.
Shy Radicals offers a lens through which to see the world: it will make you laugh, prompt you to recognise the violence of loudness, and tempt you to contribute to this creative state-building project. I imagine that the establishment of the state of Aspergistan would lead to mass visa applications.
Asylum, of course, according to the Constitution, will be granted to all Shy peoples suffering persecution in extrovert-supremacist states. - Rachel Seoighe
https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/shy-radicals-antisystemic-politics-militant-introvert-hamja-ahsan/


I have a great deal to write about Shy Radicals by Hamja Ahsan, but for now I want to just give some brief thoughts. I have seen Hamja post for a long while on the idea of Aspergistan, always leaving me with a great deal of intrigue. It is great to see his philosophy out in book form.

I started the book, with somewhat of a bemused look on my face, and then restarted changing the emphasis on my interaction with it. To take what Hamja is saying seriously, I needed to be serious about engaging with his writing. Surely that is the whole point of his book, a form of proselytising to those who have not given these issues enough thought?

Bringing about change, without being loudly obsequious to what is considered to the norm, is something I want to think about in my own life and activism. As someone who struggled with bullying in school, and as someone who used to well up in tears in class if ever having to speak out loud or answer a question, I only found a voice in my 20s, when I began my activism and found myself trying to give a voice to others. Still…I find that if I have to speak about anything outside of my work with ‘normal’ people, I’m lost for words and things to say (work is the only social interaction I have outside of my immediate family). Reading ‘Shy Radicals’ has allowed me to start a conversation with myself about perpetuating privileges that have come with the position I have been given or find myself in. The questions Hamja asks at the end about the roles that we play, are ones that we should all reflect on, even if to just know who we are.

I would have liked to have seen from Hamja’s book, something more detailed about social media, and the way that it perpetuates or subverts reality. He says, “The death of social media is the birth of asocial media…” and yet I don’t necessarily recognise that. Interacting with Hamja both virtually on social media and (to a lesser extent) in the ‘real’ world, I see there is a difference in the two dynamics. It would have been interesting to read more about how this dynamic in particular changes, but perhaps that will be in the follow up book.

This book is as remarkable as it is necessary, as it is something I have never thought about in the way Hamja presents it. He tackles all of the big issues in the contemporary world, and yet presents an alternative way to deal with him. I thank him for sharing this with us. Do read this book – but more importantly – reflect on it. - Asim Qureshi

http://thebookslamist.com/2017/05/26/shy-radicals-anti-systemic-politics-introvert-militant/

 

Shy Radicals is a ‘what if?’ book. What if everyone who suffers from anxiety, depression or agoraphobia, all those with diagnoses of autism or Aspergers’ syndrome, and everyone who is simply shy or socially awkward and has ever suffered for it, banded together and employed methods of political struggle to turn themselves into a liberation movement?

Working on the basis that there is nothing fanciful about such a possibility, Hamja Ahsan takes us into a fictionalised world of struggle, the ‘Introfada’, where the end goal is complete liberation of the shy peoples and the declaration of a free homeland, ‘Aspergistan’.

Hamja himself is the ultimate shy radical, being both shy to the point of anxiety and a seasoned activist, whose life has been dedicated to political struggle ever since the day in 2006 when the police arrived at his parents’ house to arrest his brother Talha on terrorism charges. Talha Ahsan, who himself is a shy radical, living with Asperger’s, was held in high security British prisons from 2006 until 2013, when he was extradited to the US, where he was held for a further ten months, part of the time in solitary confinement.

As a result of Talha’s arrest, Hamja found himself thrust into campaigning and into a limelight which has both terrified and enthralled him ever since. From then until 21 August 2014, when Talha was flown back to Britain, Hamja campaigned relentlessly for his brother’s freedom, widening this focus to fight not just for Talha but for all political prisoners, especially those in solitary confinement, and taking every opportunity to link this to other campaigns and struggles. In carrying out this work he had to confront both the hostile, Islamophobic climate that surrounds such arrests, and his own deep-seated and longstanding personal fears, anguish, and anger. These same sentiments have led him now to write Shy Radicals.

Shy Radicals is funny and bitter and idealist. But it also contains a lot of material that is shocking and serious; highlighting in particular the levels of suicide among young men. Hamja describes the book as based on ‘a life-time of resentment’; this is palpable throughout the pages and will strike a chord with many readers. Anyone who hates nights out or false bonhomie, or has ever been excluded from a popular group and felt the dual emotion of despising that group and everything it stands for, while at the same time wanting to belong somewhere, will easily identify with the sentiments behind Shy Radicals. - Nicki Jameson

http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/culture/4976-shy-radicals

                

       

Hamja Ahsan discusses humour, connecting diverse movements and struggles, and imaginary spaces in activism.


Shy Radicals author Hamja Ahsan is an artist, curator and activist based in London. He is the Free Talha Ahsan campaign organiser. He has presented art projects at Tate Modern, Gwangju Biennale, Shaanakht festival Pakistan and Shlipa Academy, Bangladesh. He co-founded DIY Cultures Festival in 2013.